Helm "Lordy" Highgate
As the heir apparent to one of the most prominent families among the Persephone Nobility, Helm spent his youth listening to the many tales of wild adventures on the rim relayed to him by the various servants and company employees that moved in and out of the household. Perhaps this was the beginning of his wayward idealism. His parents ran the lucrative Highgate Surveying Corporation and as the heir to their Title and Directorship, he was expected to learn the ways of culture, negotiation, and subterfuge. To this end he was sent away to study at the University on Sihnon. An unremarkable student in most ways, he was noted for his dedicated study of military history and tactics, much to the consternation of his parents who saw no value in such unprofitable pursuits. While attending the University, he was made a Blooded of the secretive Order of the White Lotus Dueling Society, a process in which a candidate is wounded in a duel by a member of the Society, the scar received becoming a sign of membership. Within the Society he was exposed to the boldest of modern theories regarding individualism and self determination and was able to further perfect the dueling skills he had developed back on Persephone, earning him a fearsome reputation as a swordsman. Upon the outbreak of hostilities of the Unification war, Helm found himself enamored with the romance and mystique of the Independent cause. Before long he found himself stowing away with a handful of Brothers and Sisters from the Society bound for Hera to volunteer their services. Helm promptly donated all of his family's liquid assets to the cause, keeping only the family heirlooms: a dueling set of pistol and sword, called Surtr and Ymir, rumored to date back to Earth-That-Was. Thanks to his contribution, Helm was given a commission as a Brigadier General of Logistics... and promptly assigned to New Kashmir, a nothin' planet out on the rim, far from where the real fighting was. Everything changed when the alliance showed up unlooked for at the Kalidasa system. Over the course of the next several weeks Helm recieved many commendations as he coordinated supplies and ammunition to support the holding action until relief ships could be provided. It was during the evacuation, however, that Helm truly earned his star. As Independent forces were loading onto transports, a large alliance detachment launched a surprise attack against the left flank, where logistics and the wounded were staged for extraction. The division assigned to the left was moslty green, outnumbered, and outgunned. The defense of the left flank became a disastrous rout, threatening the entire evacuation. It was at this most desperate hour that some few members of the logistics division, their left shoulders adorned with handmade patches bearing a lotus, entered the fray. Standing firm as Browncoats fled past them, they formed around their General. Then suddenly, Ymir was held aloft, glittering silver in the light of New Kashmir's sister planets, and the muzzle flash of Surtr blazed like fire in the night. Seeing this brave stand, new recruits and veterans alike turned and stood their ground. The fury of the the Browncoats rekindled was more than mere numbers could withstand, and the Purple Bellies were forced to retreat, regroup, and reinforce. Over the course of that deadly night the Alliance attacked again and again, and the Angels of the White Flower, as the entire unit would later be referred to by those whose lives were saved by their courage, counted their losses in how many times over they had been decimated. But it was not until the order was sent to withdraw and evacuate that Helm collapsed from his wounds, as his fellows lay dead and dying around him. And it was not until their leader had been carried from harm's way that the Left Flank at last quit the field. For the rest of the war, regardless of where they went or to what unit they were assigned, all who survived the Final Stand on New Kashmir wore a white flower on their left shoulder. As for Helm, he was back in the fighting as soon as he was able to walk. But he know longer fought for honor or glory, he fought for the men he left behind on New Kashmir and he fought to never leave another behind. After countless skirmishes and battles, the war ended for Helm, not with a bang, but with a whimper. His command was stationed on Sturges, scheduled to embark on the transport ships in orbit, when the Alliance struck. The battle, terrible as it was out in the black, appeared as a simple meteor shower dirtside. It was only the sporadic reports that told the observers that so many of the flashes of light marked the dying gasp of Fireflies and the men and women who flew them as they burned up in the unrelenting sky. Helm was sent to a camp for "high value" prisoners, which really meant even worse treatment. But by far the most difficult burden to bear was listening to the reports of the Battle of Serenity Valley and knowing he could not be there to die with his friends. This is the reward given to a hero of a lost cause; to bear the burden of regret, not only for one's own loss, but for the loss endured by all those who believed in you. So Helm bears that burden by living, by remembering, and by making a way in the world for those who are not mighty pleased with the way Alliance rule has panned out. And every time Surtr spits lead, it speaks with the voice of those who still believe. And every time Helm draws steel, Ymir stands in silent memory of those whose voice was taken from them. Category:Characters